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South by Southwest Conferences and Festivals is expanding beyond the traditional start-up events going on now.

Organizers plan to launch the SXSW Eco Startup Showcase on Oct. 4 to bring together clean technology startups and young companies with investors.

The new Startup Showcase will feature a 15-team competition and panel discussions. Companies interested in presenting at the Startup Showcase can apply on SXSW Eco website from May 1 through July 6.

South by Southwest Conferences and Festivals launched SXSW Eco last year. This year, the three-day conference will take place Oct. 3-5 at the AT&T Executive Education and Conference Center in Austin.

“Just as the SXSW Interactive and Music Accelerators have emerged as premier venture capital pitch events, we hope the SXSW Eco Startup Showcase will foster a similar productive environment,” SXSW Eco director Scott Wilcox said in a statement.

Austin Energy, an electric utility, and the nonprofit Austin Technology Clean Energy Incubator at the University of Texas are partners in the new venture. Those two groups have produced the Clean Energy Venture Summit for the last 5 years.

Some North Texas entrepreneurs and companies will help spread the word about Startup America at Austin’s South by Southwest Interactive Festival, which starts today.

Startup America is a nationwide White House initiative designed to drive entrepreneurship and create jobs. Startup DFW launched in late January and Startup Texas launched in December.

Startup America will host a party “A Celebration of American Startups” tonight in Austin that will showcase entrepreneurial heavy weights and startups from different states, including Plano-based ReThink Books. Musical acts, including Green River Ordinance of Fort Worth and Larry g(EE) of Dallas, will perform.

On Sunday night, Startup Texas will host a 5 p.m. happy hour followed by speed dating between entrepreneurs and angel investors. Trey Bowles, co-chairman of Startup Texas and Startup DFW, said any local startups can send their logo to him and he’ll post them on a giant background screen that night.

That’s a scaled-down version of Bowles original plans, but Startup DFW didn’t raise the $15,000 it needed for a blow-out party and special exhibit at SXSW’s Startup Village.